The Inevitable
by alethedinosaur
Summary: It was inevitable that Hikari and Yamato would become close friends, seeing as how close their lives were intertwined. Staying friends or falling in love on the other hand, would prove to me more difficult. Timing gets in the way of that sort of thing. Yakari. Rated T for possible future content.
1. Prolouge Hikari's POV

The Inevitable

AN: Lower secondary school is middle/junior high school. I will be using the Japanese ages, I'm not sure if to consider it three or four years apart. Yamato is 11, while Hikari is 8.

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Hikari's POV

It seemed that it would be inevitable that we would become relatively close. Yamato and I, that is. I mean he was my brother's best friend, and my brother was never like other big brothers. I would always find it strange when other kids in my class use to say that their brothers and sisters would ignore them. Taichi would never do that. He would always include, always take such good care of me. So when he became best friends with Yamato it would also be inevitable that I would become friends with the blond boy. I remember having the biggest crush on him too. I mean who didn't? Yamato has always been an attractive guy. But that's all it was, a childhood crush. He was always the best of Taichi; he was so nice and kind to me and was always glad to play with me. He was never pushy when something was wrong, and he wasn't overprotective of me and fast to act. I guess that's what allowed us to become such close friends in the first place. Both of us kept a lot in the inside because we never wanted anybody to know or burden themselves by trying to help us.

It was something that we both knew about each other as kids, though we didn't start talking to each other about the deeper issues until Yamato entered secondary education. At that age you couldn't play anymore to distract yourself from your problems. It was seen as kiddish; they wanted you to grow up so fast in so little time. On the first day of school, Yamato walked me home from school, stating that he promised Taichi he would. Seeing as her older brother couldn't since he was too busy with soccer practice. I knew something was wrong with Yamato, he was doing his best to look happy but he wasn't. When they made it to her apartment, he did his best to say goodbye and leave, but I could tell that he did not want to go. So I asked him if he wanted to stay at our house and wait for Taichi in the mean time. His smile, that beautiful smile spread across his face like I made his day. Saved him from facing something he just wasn't quite ready for. We both helped ourselves to the snacks that my mom made just before she had to work. The silence we sat in was comfortable, but he broke it for the first time since I could remember.

He asked me if he could tell me something in private, already knowing I would say yes. I nodded my head and just let him talk. That happened everyday for the next couple of years on the days he did not have band practice. He would pick me up every day, we went to the park or to my house and he just talked. I would occasionally put in my two cents but it wasn't too often that I did that. Before I knew it, hell before he knew it, I knew everything that was to know about Yamato Ishida.

I didn't begin to open up to him until I reached the same age he started to open up to me. It was a Tuesday and the second day of my secondary education; it was also a pretty crummy day. I guess I always knew that Daisuke and Takeru had crushes on me, but at the same time I didn't. Both of them (by both I mean mainly Daisuke) made it clear that I was "off limits" and that I was supposedly taken. Funny thing was that the whole school knew I was taken before I did. So that day I decided to play hooky to escape from all the gossip and teenage drama. I was sitting all alone in the only Denny's in the district, trapped in my thoughts and guilt. I thought that I made it clear to both of them that I wasn't interested in them. After an hour of dealing with the waitress impatience of her only ordering hot chocolate, I decided to send a message someone I knew I could talk to. Twenty minutes of the waitress harassment ended when both of them saw Yamato walk thru the door and wave at me. He smiled and sat down while we exchanged pleasantries and ordered food. After a couple of minutes of silence I finally broke out in a rant. I was so angry that my secondary social career was decided by two of my supposed friends. The rage from my rant surprised him, no one, absolutely no one had ever seen her angry. After my rant, he coaxed me to talk more about things that made me upset. So I did. I told him about the dark ocean, catty girls, my grades, and everyone's image of me. I talked and talked for hours, until it was ten o'clock. I leapt out of my seat in a panic and vigorously apologized to him. He assured me that it was ok and that he was glad to help. He walked me to the outside of my apartment and gave me a hug goodbye and told me that we should do the same thing again next week after school. And that's exactly what we did. Every single week actually. Both of us would head out to Denny's every Tuesday, after school (unless we skipped it that is) and just enjoyed each other's company. We talked about our relationships, friendships, and lives. We worked on our home work or other projects. I worked on my photography and drawing while he worked on writing music. Before he knew it, he knew everything there was to know about me, Hikari Yagami.

Unfortunately, like everything else in the world, our routine ended as soon as he began attending the university. I knew that I shouldn't feel bad that I never saw him or talked to him anymore. Taichi and the rest of the older guys lived with him and hardly saw him. From what my brother told me, he spent all of his time at school, with school stuff, his band, and his job. I knew I should understand that he was growing up and busy with life, but it still hurt me. More than I ever thought anyone's absence ever could.

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AN: The next chapter will be Yamato's POV, and after that chapter I will begin to write in limited third person POV for the remainder of the story.


	2. Prolouge Yamato's POV

Prologue Continued - Yamato's POV

**AN: Well I don't own anything. No Digimon, and none of the characters mention. I also think I went way more in-depth in Yamato's Prologue compared to Hikari's, I just kind of got way into it.**

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It would seem that that it would be inevitable that Hikari and I would become so close. I was a bit grumpy and reclusive and she was, well nice and completely loving. All the time that we spent together with Taichi, she slowly began to wear down my defenses. Not by being bothersome, just by being herself, the best of who she was. Before I knew it, Hikari became one of my closest friend, and the person that I trusted the most.

We never really talked much until I began the seventh grade. At that time I became so accustom to having something distracting my mind. Mainly my friends, that is. I guess I was a fool to think that we would always be the same. During our summer orientation I didn't much of anything. I jokingly signed up for the choir but I knew I would never go through it. I loved to sing and I was pretty proficient in many instruments, but something about having to sing a certain song without any choice, well it just wasn't me. What I wasn't aware of (until homeroom) was that my friends did sign up for some things, and were actually going to go through with it. Jou had been neck deep in school activities and his academics so he could get into the best university he could, so after that he could get into the best medical school. Taichi signed up for soccer and was going to be in training/tryouts until the season would begin. If he made it in, he would be busy until the season ended. Sora decided to go and play tennis. She was training the entire season and made the team. Which meant she would be busy for the beginning of the year, and most likely the majority of it if her team made nationals. Koushiro was, has always been busy with commuters, hell he was still in elementary and he was already a part of the computer club at his high school. Mimi and Takeru were too far (one was in another country and the other in another district, but point is that they were too far from his reach). The only one who wasn't too busy was Hikari. Mainly because she was a fourth grader, but still, she was there.

During their lunch, Taichi was freaking out that he forgot to tell Hikari that he wasn't going to be able to pick her up. I told him that I didn't have anything to after school and that I would be happy to do it. He might have seen it as some act of friendship, but I knew better. I didn't want to be alone. I was _afraid_ to be alone. I didn't want to face it. After our last class I made my way to the elementary school that I use to attend. Funny how in less than a month, no. In less than a day, everything can change. Yesterday I had the illusion that I would have my friends alongside me forever. Today it shattered. It was foolish to believe that it would last forever, but after being alone my entire life, it was almost impossible to let go what he had at that exact moment. I was standing outside waiting of the familiar building waiting for that familiar face. The bell rung and his heart beat even faster. Did he have the right to be there? To impose his company on a girl, just because he did not want to be alone? It was a bit too late for me to run away, I saw her and she saw me. I smiled and waved at her and she returned the same courtesy. Once they we were facing each other, I explained to her that I promised Taichi that I would pick her up because he couldn't make it. She thanked me and we proceeded to walk back to her house in comfortable silence, with some small talk mixed in. When we began to approach the door of her apartment, I began to panic. It was odd. I was usually a very collected person, but my heart was accelerating, my breathing became a bit forced, my palms were sweaty and I was sure that my eyes betrayed my composure. Once we reached the door I forced myself to say goodbye, but she wouldn't hear of it. She asked me if I wanted to stay, and I quickly agreed. I was pretty certain at that moment that my eyes did betray me to her.

We sat in relative silence until I broke it. "Can I tell you something private?" Crap. She gave him an ok. Well crap. I struggled for a second to keep the words in, but I failed. I let everything out. I told her that I felt so scared. Scared of everything, the past, the present, the future, the emotions, and everything really. The only time I ever talked to anybody about any of my emotions was with Gabumon, and that was nothing compared to this. I just kept talking and talking, I really couldn't make much sense of it, but I felt…better. I stopped talking for a bit, my voice began to crack and I just wanted to catch my breath. In that time, Hikari put her hand on mine and told me she was so happy that I could talk about my problems. It's hard to hear something like that, something that you so desperately need. I was about to respond, I'm not sure what I was about to say because a clicking of the door cut my train of thought. Hikari and I both scrambled to resume nonchalant positions. Taichi came in surprised to see me and asked me what I was doing, I lied and so did Hikari. That secret of us becoming close, for some reason we both knew we had to keep quiet, was the first stone in our friendship. Soon enough she knew more about me than I knew about me.

We continued to do that for a while, almost every day until two thing came into the way. The first thing was when Hikari gave me the "push" to try out for a band. I made it, so that came into the way of us talking every day. The other thing was the whole thing with the new Digidestined, we almost never saw each other during that time, but we still managed to make some time during the week. Those days were unpredictable and so where the hours, we didn't have a routine, per say, until the day Hikari skipped her second day of middle school.

I was surprised to get the message during class. I gave her a quick reply and walked out into the gym and into the back of the school. Funny how the back of the school was the least secure part of the whole building. I rushed the whole way there, curious about what would compel her to skip school, and excited to see her. I found her at the American diner she said she would be at, looking extremely anxious. I waved at her and sat across from her. While we were waiting for our food, she began to vent. Boy was she furious at Daisuke and Takeru. Mostly Daisuke. That rant made it possible for us to meet each other at least once a week. Every Tuesday we both meet up without fail. She would do homework or work on her photography. I would work on homework, college stuff, and my music. But mostly we would talk. I didn't notice until afterwards that while we were together, she completely let her guard down around me. She was Hikari. Not just the sweet façade she put up. Well she was nice and sweet but there was so much more to her than that. Before either of us knew it, I knew Hikari more than she knew herself.

Then I blew it.

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**AN: The Story will now take place with these characters ages and grade levels.**

**Iori - Age: 14 Grade: 7th**

**Hikari, Ken, Daisuke Takeru - Age: 16 Grade: 9th**

**Miyako - Age: 17 Grade: 10th**

**Yamato, Taichi, Sora - Age: 20 Grade: 2nd Year University/College students**

**Mimi, Koushiro - Age: 19 Grade: 1st Year University/College students**

**Jou - Age: 21 Grade: 3rd Year University/College student**

**AN2: There will be flashbacks covering more in-depth of their time together and what each of them talked to each other about.**


	3. Chapter 1 Traveling

Chapter 1 – Traveling

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**AN: A thing about this story the timeline will be linear, but it will also have a lot of flashback. So it will be moving up with a lot of things tying back in. The stations and schools are real, I did my research. Also I'm putting up this chapter for taking so long on updating the rest of the prolouge.**

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Her eyelashes brushed against the surface as her eyes opened, only to be greeted by a harsh light. Hikari shifted her eyes to look at the direction of the light as her eyes slowly adjusted to it. Her vision began to focus and she noticed people entering and exciting a door, walking past a sign that said Shibaurafuto Station. She must have fallen asleep on the rail ride to her brother's apartment, leaning against the walls of the train. Luckily for her, she woke before she missed her stop that would not have turned out so well. Her throat was dry and her limbs were sore. She straightened her body out from the position it and previously been and began to stretch to rid herself of the soar and stiff feeling. Hikari reached up to the handle and pulled her luggage closer and closed her eyes once more, cursing the test that kept her up all night. She also began to curse her brother and his new found love of partying that got her in the mess she was being thrown in.

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It was a Tuesday night and she was doing what she usually did on Tuesdays. Isolating herself in her room or the living room, wearing baggy sweatpants, ugly dirty t-shirts, and her now collarbone length hair pulled into a half ass ponytail bun love child thing. Doing nothing but watching movies and shows, stuffing her face and not thinking about what she use to do on Tuesday's. Not at all. It was one in the morning and she had taken to wallowing on the floor of her living room in order to fall asleep. Hikari was pretty close to falling asleep until a ringing noise came into her ears. Her eyes snapped over and she looked up to see if she wasn't imagining things. The ringing pierced the silence again. Since she knew she wasn't imagining anything, she stood up and walked towards the phone. Not aware that pressing the "answering" key would seal her fate.

"Hello, Yagami residence." She said groggily.

"KARRRRIIIII! How are youuuuuu?" A high pitched and slurred voice rang through.

"Oh no" she blurted out.

"Guess what?" A now giggly voice rang through the other line.

"Taichi I have to go okay? Before mom and dad find out." Hikari couldn't believe that this was happening today. What was he doing drinking on a Tuesday night?

"Honey?" her mom's voice rang into the room.

"Bye, I have to cover for you!" She hissed over the phone before hanging up. "Yes mom?"

"Who was that?" the woman who looked a lot like Hikari appeared at the doorway.

"Ummm… it was Taichi." The hole was being dug.

"Really? At this time of night?" Yuuko said crossing her arms, scrutinizing her.

"Yeah! He was feeling a bit sick?" Well, he was going to be in the morning.

"With the flu, or…?" she said in a disbelieving tone.

"Homesick, mom. He wants me to visit him this weekend!" Wow, the hole was starting to get pretty deep.

"Okay." She said as she eyed her daughter one last time before retreating back in her room.

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And that's why she was in this situation. Nervous, sleepy, stressed, angry, and hurt. All because Taichi was a drunk dialer. She called him the next day, scolded him for what he did, listened to Sora scold him over the phone, and told him to cancel all his plans because he was visiting. If she didn't love her brother so much she would have made him walk the metaphorical plank in her place. She was happy that she was going to see all of the older digidestined again, Jou, Koushiro, Sora and Taichi. She just had mixed feelings about seeing Yamato again; after all he practically cut her off from his life. As busy as they all were they all always talked to her, whether it was a phone call, email, or a message. Not Yamato though, he didn't waste a single minute on her, she thought bitterly to herself. Closing her eyes once more, she took in a deep and pushed out all the thoughts of Yamato. Breathing in and out, ignoring all the odd stares that she was receiving, failing at pushing down all her emotions that were threatening to spill out.

"We are now arriving at Hinode station." She opened her eyes and griped the handle with more force, mostly out of nervousness. As the train slowed down she faced the door, hoping that Yamato wasn't going to be part of her greeting party. The train gave a ring and she proceeded to walk out with the rest of the crowd. She scanned the crowd for her brother and any of the digidestined, and that she did. He was holding a giant sign that read "HELLO BABY SISTER" with Sora standing on one side and a fairly tall and attractive man with brown hair. She let a sigh out and proceeded to run towards them, completely relived that she could post-pone her fears for a bit longer. With a joyful cheer escaping her mouth she ran straight into the arms of Sora, who was making the same noise as she hugged her.

"Hey, What about me?" Taichi protested as he lowers the sign and feigned a hurt expression.

With a tough stuck out, Sora embraced a laughing Hikari closer than she already was. "What about you? We all know she loves me more!"

Taichi pried her out of Sora's arms and hugged his sister, twirling her around for a bit. Making her dizzy before he finally put her down. "I missed you Kari!" She smiled at him and returned his hug as she told him that she also missed him.

"Now I know why you threaten us every time you mention your sister." The boy said as he looked at her with flirtatious eyes. Hikari rolled her eyes at the boy's comment, not bothering to react because Taichi was there. The ouch that the boy let out confirmed that that the boy was quickly disciplined for his comment. "I was kidding! Well No bu-"The boy didn't get to finish his sentence as he dogged her brother's arms once more. "I'm Ryota by the way." He said laughing as Taichi pulled him into a neck lock. Sora yelled at the two who stopped immediately, Taichi proceeded to bend down and pick up his obnoxious sign as the group headed for the escalators. They all proceeded to talk about the silliest things, the situation being made even funnier when someone accidentally got hit by the hideous sign. They all walked for a bit until they reached a small black car that belonged to Ryota.

The car started and they began to head to the apartment which all the older digidestined (with the exception of Mimi who was still in America) shared. "So Ryota, who are you? Well I know you are Ryota but I mean how do you know Taichi?" Hikari said, she was curious to who this guy was seeing as he wasn't a roommate.

"I'm one of the other scholarship soccer players. We meet at orientation and we've been raising hell ever since." The boy said looking up to the mirror, grinning at her.

Hikari nodded her head and bit her lips as she looked down. "So where are the others?" Boy did she love torturing herself. She desperately wanted to know more about Yamato. It was something that she would never admit to anybody/

"Well Jou" Taichi began to inform "has a test right now but he will join us when he's done and-"

"You should have seen him yesterday! He was threatening his organic chemistry book!" An eager Sora cut him off, laughing as she shared that little bit.

"AND" Taichi said loudly looking back giving Sora a fake glare "Koushiro was at his robotic technology internship, he's probably waiting for us to pick him up. Yamato had this physics lecture he couldn't miss but he should be at the apartment in an hour or so."

Hikari gave both Sora and Taichi a look, and spoke to them with a sarcastically skeptical tone "Did both of you skip class or something today?"

"Nah I don't have class on Fridays" To which Taichi and his friend broke out into an immature laugh.

Hikari rolled her eyes at him once more. Of course he wouldn't have class on Friday, one extra day to party. Though past events did prove that he did not care whether he had class the next day. "Well enough of you, Sora?"

She opened her mouth to speak but Tai cut her off "Well she's taking all these easy classes since she's leaving us next semester."

"I believe she said enough!" Sora glared at Taichi as she scolded him. "And who are you to talk about easy classes? Poli-Sci major!" Taichi began to make some immature grumbling sounds which only pissed Sora off even more. "Well I sent in my application to Tokyo Design Gakuin and I got in! I deferred my acceptance until next semester, but the more time passes the more I know that I have to go." She said in a louder-than-necessary tone with and odd mix of anger and joy. "I discovered that I really want to design. Anything really! But I really have a love for fashion design. Kimonos mostly. But if I want to make a name for myself as a designer is if I go to a school that is known for that. I love it here, but I have to go you know!" She turned to Taichi once more giving him a venomous glare. "I don't know why he's complaining! I'll probably visit them all the time! But if he continues to be a complete ass hole, I'll keep the fuck away!"

Taichi turned his head back to face Sora and gave her a glare that Hikari had not seen in a long time. "I just don't see why you have to leave Keio! It's one of the best schools in the country! You could do your fashion thing here and not have to move out to Ochanomizu or whatever!" Sora began to launch herself as forward as she could and all hell broke loose between the two.

Hikari turned up to Ryota with an eyebrow raised, "Did I hit a nerve or something?"

The driver let out a laugh, "It would have been hit eventually. Trust me." He said as pulled over to the road. The car door next to her suddenly opened causing her to jump. Unfortunately it was not enough to get the pair to stop with their arguing.

Koushiro looked into the car and then slowly moved away "I think I'll walk…"

Hikari pulled him back into the car, "Oh no you don't!"

The older boy sighed and surrendered and closed the car door. The vehicle began to roar to life and pull back into the road. None of the movement seemed to interfere with the relentless battle between the two in the car. Koushiro turned back to her with a slight grin on his face. "So how do you like it here do far?"

Hikari began to laugh loudly at this; she always enjoyed his sense of humor. "Yeah, the background noise is just a little hard to bear through, but other than that it's great!" The three that weren't arguing proceeded to laugh loudly. Apparently that's what it took to stop the pair from tearing each others heads of. They both turned to the others and began to demand why they were laughing. Which just made them laugh harder as the car came to a complete stop. They ignored the interrogation from the bickering pair and got out of the car. Hikari began to follow Koushiro, seeing as she had no idea where she was going. That and that Sora and Taichi were arguing again, this time it was because her brother almost hit Sora with her bag. She just wanted to get away from all the noise and sleep for a bit. She felt something go near her ear and out of the corner of her eyes saw that it was Koushiro.

"Those two confuse me even more about relationships" he said humorously.

Yeah. He had no idea.

Neither did I.

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**AN: Next Update will hopefully be October the second, might be earlier depending on how I adjust to the move!**


	4. Chapter 2 Hurt

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Digimon. Wait! Oh no. Never mind. False alarm everybody!

AN: I know, I know. No romance yet. This is a story of how they struggle with their feelings, struggle getting together, and struggle stating that way. No one's going to throw themselves into steamy make out session. Well at least not in this chapter. I would also like to appologize for the slight delay, I just finished moving into and settling in my school.

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Chapter 2 - Hurt

Neat. That was surprising. Hikari did not know much about college life, but she knew for a fact that it was not suppose to be clean. The apartment, that is. The kitchen was free from any stains and dishes. The small table against the wall had the chairs neatly tucked in, the small surface only playing host to small stack of napkins. The living room had a large television in the middle, with mismatch furniture surrounding it. There was a circular sitting chare that was against plastic cubbies that held magazines, books, bottles, and other items. A large green worn but clean couch was facing the television. Lastly, there was a black futon pushed up against the wall with a couple of blankets and pillows neatly stacked on the edge.

"This is too clean. You are the ultimate mother, you know that Sora." Hikari said as she gave the girl a look of approval.

"Yeah it wasn't always like this you know." The older girl replied with a dry tone.

"What broke the camel's back was Taichi managing to light all the counters on fire." Koushiro laughed as he remembered that day.

"Just the counters. Nothing else" Ryota added.

"How did you manage that Tai?" Hikari turned to her brother with a look of disbelief.

In turn he shrugged and said "I dunno."

The group laughed out loud at this for a while, making jokes at Taichi's expense. That was until he came through the door, smiling like hadn't done a damn thing.

"Yamato!" Taichi and the older boy cheered as the blond dropped his bag on the floor. Yamato made his way to her, beaming like the sun. On an annoying day that is. He came up to her and pulled her into an embrace, which she awkwardly returned. He put his lips against her ears and told her that he missed her.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, ignoring the shiver that was running through her body. Hikari just couldn't let him know that she was excited. Just so he could walk about in her life again only to drop her once more. No. She had to fight whatever she was feeling. "I missed you too" she added monotonously, gently breaking the hug.

"Is it just you here Hikari? No one else?" The blond boy looked around in search of who she could only assumed was the younger digidestined.

"They would be here but this weekend is the soccer tournament for high schools in our region and those around us. Daisuke and Ken are playing. Miyako is cheering for Daisuke. Takeru would have come with me but his girlfriend is one of the cheerleaders. Iori has a kendo tournament next week and he is practicing like crazy. He is barley taking time off to just see a couple of matches, so he couldn't exactly travel with me."

Yamato looked like had been hit in the head with a mallet. "Wait why would Miyako be cheering for Daisuke of all people. Unless…. Wait! When did they start dating?! Also, and more importantly when did Takeru start dating?"

"Well you might have known if you would bother to talk to any of us." Hikari hissed as she kept her eyes focused on the floor. She didn't mean to say what she did; she was just hurt and could not keep it in much longer. No one noticed the way she said it, or how she looked when she was saying. Or at least acted like it. Only Koushiro noticed that Hikari sounded hurt and angry. Like someone he knew. He made a note to himself, making sure that he would to talk to her about it later.

Yamato opened his mouth on the verge of saying something, most likely to interrogate her more about Arisu and Takeru, but he was interrupted by a rattling sound. All heads turned to the door, whether they were glued on to it like Hikari, or a merely glanced like Sora. The sound that was coming form it was is as someone was struggling to open it. "Here comes Jou so we can all take you out to dinner." Her brother announced, patting himself down, before looking a bit relieved. He probably thought he forgot his wallet.

Jou came in the door looking like he had been dead for quite some time. The boys frame was a lot more wiry and thin than she remembered. His clothes hung from him like a hanger, covering him instead of fitting him. His form was hunched over from what she guessed to be the giant shoulder bag he was carrying. The cheeks were hollowed out, highlighting the dark circles and bags under his eyes. His eyes were the worst of all. They were what truly made him look dead on the inside. Almost as if he was in the process of or had lost someone or something.

He smiled at her widely, the joy on his face never reaching his eyes. Jou walked over to her, dropping his bag next to Yamato's, so that he could hug her. "Hikari! It's been to long! You look so much older!"

She squeezed him in return and confirmed what she saw earlier. He lost a lot of weight. She knew that because she felt nothing but bones. Breaking the hug, she smiled at him in an attempt to hide the fact that she was horrified at his current state of health. "Thank you! You look… umm. You look-"

"Like shit. I mean if any of us had even a slight thought of being a doctor. It's completely gone." Taichi said as he humorously pretended to hold something only to throw it over his shoulder. "Look at what all the Pre-Med stuff has done to him! He is one step away from becoming a zombie"

"Yeah, my course loads. That's what it is. It's pretty demanding." Jou said as kept his eyes on an apparently interesting part of the floor.

"Well I better get going now; don't want to keep you guys. It was nice meeting you Hikari." Ryota broke the silence and extended his hand and shook her hand. "I'll see you guys later." The boy waved at everyone else in the room and made his way out the door.

"See ya man." Taichi said before turning to Jou and extending his hands.

"No" Jou replied with a dead pan expression.

"But why not! I'm pretty sure it's illegal for you to drive your car if you are literally a step away from passing out." The older brunet whined, while she rolled her eyes at him.

"Why not? Because the rule is you can drive my car as long as you haven't hit anyone with it!" He rubbed the temples of his forehead and tossed a set of keys to Koushiro, who of course failed to catch them. "Which means, other than me, Koushiro is the only other person who can drive my car." Oh dear, she thought to herself, it was one story that she wanted and not wanted to hear at the same time. Koushiro waved at them to follow him to the car. We all did so and just talked most of the time. By talk I mean that if any of us were mad at someone we would ignore them for the most part.

To say the ride there, and the wait to be seated, was awkward would be an understatement. Hikari was furious with Yamato, and she was acting passive aggressive. Yamato was confused and tired. Taichi and Sora were being openly hostile to each other. Jou was stressed and upset, and most people assumed that his studies were the root of this. Koushiro was actually okay and in no one's firing range, but he was with a group of angry, tired, sad people.

"I have to go to the bathroom." Hikari abruptly stood up from the table and turned around. She was sick of her brother and Sora's nonstop bickering .She was even sicker of Yamato trying to talk to her.

Noticing that no one else was really paying attention at the table, the red head chose that time to escape. Koushiro slowly and quietly removed himself from the table to follow the young girl. If he was going to talk to her, now was just a good time as any.

"Hikari! Wait!" he shouted when he spotted her pushing the door open of the ladies room.

Hikari slammed the door closed and began to shout. "What is it? Can't I have a damn moment of peace." Her face fell, realizing that she had just finished yelling at someone who hadn't done a damn thing wrong. "I'm sorry I snapped I'm just-"

"Don't worry I know. I have to deal with this all the time, from my girlfriend."

He has a girlfriend? What? Why hadn't he mentioned it before?

"Yes I know. I have a proper relationship before any of them." He said pointing back at general area in which they were sitting. "We've been friends since the summer, and we made it official two weeks ago." He smiled at her and extended his phone to show her a picture. It was of him with his arms around a girl. She was plain but beautiful, with her red hair held back with a head band. She was smiling brilliantly, making her brown eyes and the countless freckles on her face dance.

"She's looks sweet, not to mention she's pretty cute." Hikari said as he looked up from the image.

He smiled at her and began to look fondly at the image on the screen. "Her name is Miranda. We meet during summer school and we lived in the same building. We actually use to hang out all the time back then while I was in the dorms and before this whole madness." He closed his phone and put it back in his pocket and smiled at her. "Well now back to my point. Now I can see how stupid I was back then, but of course I didn't notice it then. I was, am pretty busy all the time. I use to cancel on her all the time, and blow her off. Not that I did it to hurt her or anything, it's like I said before, I was always busy. One day I was walking out of the library and I saw her on the steps, looking down at her phone looking lost. It was at that moment that I realized that she was new in this country and had no one else. She had me for a while and now, when she needed someone the most I had completely ignored her. I went up to her and asked her out to dinner. Which I now know means that I asked her out on a date. And, well the rest is history."

He extended his hand and put it on her shoulder. "Give him a good nudge and talk to him about how you feel. I know both of you were close. He talks about you a lot. I think you both are trying to get use to not having each other to talk to when you need it. Well I'll see you back at the table." Koushiro turned around and made his way back to the table.

"Koushiro!" Hikari shouted out, her voice sounding a little chocked up.

Without turning back he said "You're welcome."

Hikari just stood there with tears rolling down her cheeks. She wiped away her tears, wondering how she had missed them earlier. Sniffling she walked to the bathroom, this time because she had to look presentable. While she looked in the mirror, she tried her best to fix her slightly puffy eyes and smeared make up. Not really focused on the task, but in her thoughts. She had so much in common with Miranda, the loneliness, the not having someone she could fully confide in, the feelings of abandonment. But did she feel all of that because she had feelings for Yamato? She shook her head, it couldn't be possible, she would know. That didn't matter now; all she wanted to do now was get her friend back! With a smile on her face and a not so teary complexion, she practically flew back to the table.

"You look, um, very happy Hikari." Yamato said as he watched sit down.

"Oh it's nothing; someone just gave me something in the bathroom." She said with a bright smile in her face.

Everyone in the table dropped whatever they were doing and looked over at her with the same horrified expression.

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AN: Spoilers! The next chapter will be about Hikari and Yamato catching up and who knows what else? I would also like to share something that my spell check was trying to do. In the sentence that goes "…why would Miyako cheer for…", it tried to tell me to change the order of the words "would" and "Miyako". Meaning the sentence would read "…why Miyako would cheer…". This made me laugh because that particular ordering of words is something I hear all the time.


	5. Chapter 3 I Missed You

AN: Sorry about the huge delay, classes started and it's been pretty crazy. So here you go! Also since I am on break, I have a goal of writing a chapter a day of all my stories, so expect a speedy upload!

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Chapter 3 - I Missed You

It took Hikari approximately one point five seconds to realize that her particular choice of words were not exactly the best she could have chosen. But it was too late. She was bombarded with questions from everybody, with the exception of Tai who was yelling at no one in particular to call poison control. It took about ten minutes and an angry manager to clarify that what she got from the bathroom was advice and not some hard core drugs. The rest of the dinner and the ride back was filled with light conversation, as a form of relief. She guessed it was just their way of calming themselves after thinking she had a thing for LSD. Hikari though that the rest of the night was going to be as breezy. She was wrong of course.

As soon as they got into the apartment, Sora called dibs on the shower and went to collect her things. Five minutes after Sora got in the shower, Ryota, the boy from earlier came by again to tell Taichi about another frats party. The guy asked her brother if he wanted to go with him, and Taichi replied with a weak no. He was telling him that he had to stay for her and about his responsibilities. Halfway through his half-assed speech she told him to just go, that she was going to sleep soon. Taichi repeatedly thanked her as he spun her around for the umpteenth time that day as Ryota bowed to her. God no wonder they were such good friends. After he put her down and the two meatheads ran towards the door, common curtsey struck them as they both stopped and asked the rest of the guys if they wanted to go. To which they replied with solid no's, Yamato adding how he was not going to clean up after Taichi ever again. After they left, Yamato, Koushiro and she engaged in conversations, sharing their drunken Taichi tales. Until Jou's face slammed into the counter, that is.

Since she had never really dealt with that before, she began to freak out a little. A lot actually. Screaming bloody murderer. He just passed out for goodness sake! Yamato calmed her down, assuring her that that was just how Jou went to sleep; while Koushiro checked on Jou to make sure that there was actually nothing to worry about. After Koushiro had given them the OK, the three of them awkwardly lifted Jou up and carried him into a room and placed him on the bed. She noticed that that room was significantly messier than the rest of the apartment. The small room had the bed in which Jou was placed, a bunk bead on the opposite wall, and a couple of miss matched desk pushed up against different walls. She did notice that one desk had posters of half naked women above it. Hikari bitterly guessed that it was her brother's lovely desk. She was about to ask if one of them shared a room with Sora until Koushiro got a call. Almost immediately Yamato began to shout high pitched obscenities. She began to laugh and join in the jeers. Only she shouted his name in a range of shrill tones. She hardly felt comfortable hearing what was coming out of Yamato's surprisingly filthy mouth, so it wasn't like she was about to repeat them or anything. Koushiro responded to Yamato with a rude hand gesture as he continued to talk over him. Shortly after, Koushiro told the other person on the line that he would be there soon. Yamato continued to teas Koushiro, asking him what on earth he would be off to at this time of night. Ignoring him, he said goodbye to Hikari before grabbing Jou's keys and walking out the door. The door shut with a loud slam that was aimed at Yamato, he ignored it and asked her if she knew that Koushiro "is finally getting some". She made a face and told him that she knew he had a girlfriend, but not in those words. The pair laughed until Sora's name rang through the room asking where everybody had gone. Hikari replied honestly, not knowing that telling her that Taichi had gone out to a party would piss her off. Which it did. More than anyone would think.

Yamato gave her a look that said it would be best if they both stayed quiet. Sora was yelling and ranting and complaining about Taichi. She turned her head to the side doing her best to block out Sora calling her brother a "loathsome son of a bitch" and "a fugly man whore". While her and Yamato were pretending to be interested on the imaginary detail of the wall, Sora had changed, done her hair and makeup while ranting. She walked out of the door wearing a less than modest blouse and shorts with ridiculously high heels. The door slammed behind her. The pair burst out laughing at Sora's antics, and at least for her, jealousy.

"Would you believe me if I say this is almost a daily thing?" Yamato said as he walked towards the fridge.

Hikari watched him walk towards the fridge as she let out a giggle. "Knowing them, yeah."

He laughed as he dug into the fridge, he turned to her and asked her if orange was fine. She nodded and smiled at him. He remembered. "Let's go out to the balcony, it's nice out." He said as he emerged from the fridge holding a bottle of orange soda in one hand and a beer in the other.

Both made their way out to a small balcony what was lightly furnished with a small table with a mismatch chair, and a small cushioned bench parallel to a worn coffee table. The pair took a set on the bench; she opened her soda, while he opened his bear and lit a cigarette. Hikari made a face at the smoke that gently made its way pass her. It's not that she had anything against any particular habits. It was the fact that she didn't have a choice when it came to indulging in said habits. Anything that changed her state of mind really. It was a fear that only her and Ken could ever relate to. That the very second you lose even the slightest bit of control, that It would be back. But only this time there would be no escape. Luckily (or unluckily) for her, the first time she ever drank was with the rest of the "younger" Digi-destined, as a victory celebration for Daisuke and Ken. She took a couple of shots and all hell threatened to break lose. The ocean, she could hear the ocean.

"Hikari I you really don't want me to smoke or drink you could just say so." Yamato said with a kind smile.

Hikari shifted nervously and feverously shook her head. "What? Oh no! It's not that, I was just ... Thinking."

His eyes, they were so gentle and kind, something that was only reserved for her. She couldn't help but smile even though he was asking her too many questions. "About what?" he asked her as he tucked her bangs behind her ears. She really needed a haircut.

She smiled back, she just couldn't help it. She scrunched up her face and just told him the first thing that came to mind. "Just that I really, really don't like alcohol."

"Sick of me already?" He teased as he nudged her shoulder. She laughed at him before resting her head on his shoulder.

"I really miss this, you know? Just the two of us alone, being… well us."

He smiled at her, and put his arm around her shoulder, keeping her close. He spoke softly, almost a whisper. Something that he usually never did. "So did I Kar."

She couldn't help but shiver. She got closer to him and buried her face in his shoulders. She really missed doing the simplest things with him, and ... now she was crying. Great, she thought as she tried to conceal her tears. Damn him! Only he could do something like this to her. Damn him…again!

"Hikari-" she heard his voice, he was worried about her. She was just fantastic.

"No I'm not... Shut up" She wasn't sure what he was going to say, but she didn't want him to worry. Why the hell did she have to be so damn emotional around him?

He tried once more to speak to her. "Are yo-"

"I said shut it Ishida!" Yeah like hell she was going to let him voice it.

"Oh so were back to formalities aren't we?" She knew he was teasing her, so she broke their embrace and used her middle finger to wipe the stupid tears.

"I… I really missed you ok?" She continued to wipe her tears as she let out a half forced laugh.

"I missed you too." He said as he wiped another tear from her cheek. She couldn't help the shiver that ran across her whole body. It was strange to her how he could do that to her. She covered his hands with his and closed her eyes. If they could only stay like that.

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AN: So I will have a new chapter sometime soon, I'm on break so no excuses!


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